Jitish Kallat

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biography

Born: India, Mumbai

“My art is more like a researcher's project who uses quotes rather than an essay, with each painting necessitating a bibliography," says the artist; furthermore, the use of his own image introduces an autobiographical element. He chooses an economical, nearly abstract, form of narrative. Images float around the protagonist, like icons on a computer screen that resemble an intricate web. "Any visual material relevant to me" serves as the source of material. Images of the print media are photocopied and transferred on to the surface. Hence he draws a distinction between 'real', as opposed to the painted image which he considers fictional. Kallat’s images are like a picture puzzle which the viewer has to decode and conclude upon. The treatment of the picture plane is like a battered wall, and refers to the duality in his painting. Kallat describes his art practice of incorporating material from various sources as "It is like copyrighting an artwork which itself has been appropriated from so many histories, people, collaborations." He acknowledges an acceptance as well as his critique of the modernist concept of authorship in which he revels.